Howard County Runners Predict Their Thanksgiving Day 10K Times

By James Carbary
Columbia, MD
November 24, 2011
For the Washington Running Report

Race winner Rick Scholfield crosses the finish line 3.56 too late to be perfect in photo courtesy of Chris Farmer

The registration for the Howard County Striders Turkey Trot 10k started promptly at 9:00 am on Thanksgiving Day. Without the benefit of any timing devices, the competitors attempted to run the appointed 10K course through the Jeffers Hill and Long Reach communities so as to finish at exactly 11:00 a.m. the winner being the runner who finished closest to the hour. Even if you did not win you still received a Dunkin Donut with cider or orange juice. The problem was that there were 216 donuts (18 dozen) and 349 finishers.

Some people began as soon as 9:05 a.m., which translates to a ridiculously slow pace even if they are walking. Suspicions arose that many were leaving early so that they would return in time to get a donut. “No, really, I have to be in Virginia later this morning,” Pat Huffman said when she left at 9:15 a.m. Statistics, however, do not lie: 268 finished before 11:00 a.m. and only 81 finished afterwards. And the last person to finish (11:14:51 a.m.), Richard Rosen, had a ready excuse for not coming in sooner: “I thought it was 8K.”

Ultramarathoner Rick Schofield proved to be the most accurate runner of the morning, finishing within 3.56 seconds of 11:00 a.m. “I learned how to pace myself by running the Stone Mill 50 Miler last weekend,” Rick confided. One suspects he was too tired from Stone Mill to keep up with the McIntyres and Wilsons, who flashed past him in the last half mile. “It took discipline on my part,” Schofield added. “I thought finishing Stone Mill was my greatest running experience, but it was nothing compared to this.” Rick earned a gift certificate and the coveted Brass Turkey (actually, a plastic turkey with gold-colored paint).

Len Guralnick, former president of the Howard County Striders, directed the event, which has been held every Thanksgiving since 1981 or 1982. Only three people have run all the Turkey Trots: Joanna Whyte, Dick Woods, and Jerry Warfield, who actually lives on the course and regularly trains on it to improve his accuracy. (He finished at 10:57:55 a.m.) Whyte lives in California and travels back east every year for the Turkey Trot.

After paying for all the donuts, the benefits from the Turkey Trot benefit the Dave Tripp Scholarship Fund for high-school scholar athletes in Howard County.